Devizes Melting Pot

“Protection. Conservation. Restriction. Deep ecology. Give me deep technology any day. They don't scare me. "I'm damned if I'll crawl, my children's children crawl on the earth in some kind a fuckin' harmony with the environment. Yeah, till the next ice age or the next asteroid impact." (Moh Kohn, The Star Fraction)/
"This is the fight between God and the Devil. If His Grace is with God, he must join me, if he is for the Devil he must fight me. There is no third way" King Gustavus Adolphus

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Anyone with a big house, a big bank balance and a big Josephine Baker fantasy can now buy a big cat. The Ashera cat stands 4ft tall on its hind legs, weighs up to 14kg and looks like a small leopard. It can even be walked on a lead, just as the 1920s vaudeville star did with her pet leopard. According to Lifestyle Pets, a company based in Delaware, which breeds these fashionable felines (from an African serval and an Asian leopard cat), it doesn't require special cat food though it will need an extra large litter tray and likes a heated bed. Oh, and it costs £10,600 and there's a nine-month waiting list. From next year, for an extra £3,000, you can buy a hypoallergenic Ashera that won't, apparently, make you sneeze.

Imagine having two of these Ashera cats rampaging round your house! Let alone the food and kitty litter bills.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has apologised after it emerged that government figures on foreign workers were underestimated by 300,000.

She admitted it was "bad" that the wrong figures were given out on foreign nationals since 1997, but said 2.7m new jobs had been created under Labour.

The number of foreign workers in the UK since 1997 is now thought to be 1.1m, not the 800,000 officially recorded.

For the Tories, Chris Grayling said it was an "extraordinary development".

These numbers are meaningless, you can never get a secure number on how many are coming to the UK, because people come and go all the time. Whats even more annoying to your average little Englander or racist is that many of these Poles are Catholic, well educated and most shockingly they are white! As a group these new eastern European immigrants are very hard to be scapegoated, its far easier to attack immigrants who have brown skin (because they look different and may follow a different religion and creates this fear of the 'Other'). Just goes to show how frankly colour based much of our immigration policies are and the issue being held hostage by rags like the Daily (S)Express, the Daily Mail or any number of right wing newspapers, blogs and websites).

I for one am quite grateful we aren't counting people, because its quite creepy.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has been welcomed ceremonially to Britain by the Queen, amid burgeoning controversy over the Middle Eastern ruler's stay.

The Queen greeted him on Horseguard's Parade at the start of his first visit to the UK in 20 years.

The Lib Dems and some charities said the visit should not take place because of the kingdom's human rights record.

King Abdullah's remarks about the 7 July terror attacks have heightened the controversy surrounding the trip.

The Foreign Office was forced to rebut his claims that Saudi authorities had provided information which could have prevented the London bombing atrocities.

Its bloody cheek the Saudi King telling us off for not acknowledging their 'intelligence' while not admitting the fact they fund the extremist madrases and 19 of the 9/11 hijackers came from their country! Or there non existent human rights record and wicked treatment of their women, not to mention the alleged corruption that when on during the BAE arms deal and my government and the Queen are laying out the red carpet for a despot.

Not to mention the extravagance, the Saudi Royals traveled in 6 planes and 75 limos (and thats to just come from the airport), in the Saudi King's entourage there are over 400 princes! I bet while they are in the UK they will stock up on whores and booze

This is why I remain deeply cynical anytime a western leader talks about 'spreading democracy in the Middle East', because its a fraud, how can these very same people claim to 'support democracy' when they are backing despots like Mubarak and the Saud royals, but of course they get a free pass because they serve vested interests.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Hillary Clinton today moved to secure her position as the most hawkish Democrat in the 2008 presidential race, saying she would consider the use of force to compel Iran to abandon its nuclear programme.

In an article for Foreign Affairs magazine intended as a blueprint for the foreign policy of a future Clinton White House, the Democratic frontrunner argues that Iran poses a long term strategic challenge to American and its allies, and that it must not be permitted to build or acquire nuclear weapons.

"If Iran does not comply with its own commitments and the will of the international community, all options must remain on the table," Ms Clinton said.

Elsewhere, Ms Clinton took the edge off her steely posture by saying she would abandon the Bush administration's policy of isolating its enemies, and would deploy diplomacy.

So basically, Hillary Clinton would go through with an attack on Iran but unlike Bush this time she would do it with a smile and the veneer of 'international cooperation'.

Iran stands more chance of being bombed if Hillary Clinton gets into power

Saturday, October 13, 2007

the French should of won with the players they had alas their head coach is a total plonker. 1066 since the French last won!!!!(not being serious here, think of it as propaganda points or general giddiness at winning)

England followed tactics and was helped having experience players.

Safe to say almost the entire City of London are going to Paris next Saturday, its Paris and its Rugby, a delicious combination

The second semi final is tomorrow night

South Africa vs Argentina

now if Argentina get through then England stands a very good chance of getting the Webb Ellis Cup

but if S Africa get through then we are a bit fucked, or at least it will be quite tough and they could very well defeat us

Iraqi leaders argue that sectarian animosity is entrenched in the structure of their government. Instead of reconciliation, they now stress alternative and perhaps more attainable goals: streamlining the government bureaucracy, placing experienced technocrats in positions of authority and improving the dismal record of providing basic services.

"I don't think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. "To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power."

Humam Hamoudi, a prominent Shiite cleric and parliament member, said any future reconciliation would emerge naturally from an efficient, fair government, not through short-term political engineering among Sunnis and Shiites.

One of the biggest mistakes post invasion was the lack of attention payed to law and order.

Instead the CPA spent most of their time in a deluded bubble thinking they were creating Iraq in the American mold, I mean focusing on fucking traffic rules, trivial stuff

Another error was allowing most of the major ministries to be looted, disbanding the Iraqi army and getting rid of all Baath party members, I mean how stupid do you have to be to get rid of those who knew how to run the country! The answer is quite stupid, since many of the members of the CPA were Republican party loyalists with little or no experience in post conflict reconstruction, while experts were dismissed or had their job made very difficult if it didn't follow the party line.

The fawning over the exiles at the expense of those who had stayed in Iraq and the way the CPA actually created sectarian tensions or at least contributed to it, by splitting the Iraqis into Kurds, Shias and Sunnis,the way there was guilt overload in giving everything to Kurds and Shias at the expense of pissing off former power holders the Sunni's. You would of thought the CPA would of done their best to keep the Sunni's happy somehow, or just be a little bit more understanding

Disbanding the Iraqi army, there you have the nucleus of the insurgency, along with disgruntled Sunnis, followed by an influx of foreign fighters. On top of that the US is funding militias against each other and against the insurgency, adding fuel to an already massive sectarian fire and what happens when the militias use US made guns on their former US allies?

For once the old Etonian multimillionaire cokehead is correct, Gordon Brown's government is telling porkies about why an election hasn't been called.

The election has not been called because Brown's government is afraid to lose and/or changed their minds, but they won't say that in public oh no, so they lie through their teeth so as not to appear weak

Tony Benn and Labour national executive member Walter Wolfgang are set to defy the law and lead a banned anti-war march down Whitehall to parliament next Monday—the day Gordon Brown has promised to deliver a statement on Britain's presence in occupied Iraq.

Benn states, "I will be marching. It is entirely up to the police and government what they do."

Comedian and campaigner Mark Thomas also pledged to defy the ban.

Musician Brian Eno warned that the government hoped the ban would keep the issue of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan "off the agenda".

He warned that legal powers would be used to sideline protests over any military adventure against Iran.

Quite amazing no?

Gordon Brown's government rushes to support the monks who were protesting in Burma but at the same time are doing their best to stifle anti war protests at home.